Perturbation Methods for Satellite Orbits

This paper is a discussion of various perturbation techniques for satellite orbits which were investigated by the author and his colleagues during the past few years. The effort began with a tutorial "orbit seminar" several years ago and it seemed appropriate to collect some of this material here as a companion paper for R. B. Blackmail's "Methods of Orbit Refinement." It is a symptom of our times that aerospace engineers are taking a new look at the established methods of dynamical astronomy. The orbital geometries and vehicle characteristics encountered with artificial celestial bodies often require departures from the formulations of classical astronomy and, in fact, have stimulated several new (or at least independent) approaches during the post-Sputnik era. The number of publications in this time has been formidable, and in many discussions the names attached to various formulations serve as passwords for the ideas they represent. The uninitiated find themselves at a loss 847 848 T I I E B E L L SYSTEM T E C H N I C A L J O U R N A L , MAY 1964